In my experience, conservatives can usually describe what liberals believe in a way that liberals would accept. Liberals, on the other hand, have absolutely no idea why anyone would be conservative besides being evil. This is why liberals exist in a state of chronic surprise.

The ability to make a positive case for your opponents is important for many reasons. The first is that you will never be able to persuade others unless you know what makes them tick. Calling Hispanics who voted for Trump self-loathing won’t cut it.

The second reason is more spiritual. People do not actually desire evil. Even the worst people desire the good but do so in a way that is misinformed or disordered. It’s always possible to describe their beliefs and goals in positive terms.

This is the concept behind @bryan_caplan’s “Ideological Turing Test.” You pass the test if you can pretend to take your opponent’s position and fool them into thinking you are one of them. Like going undercover. According to Caplan, liberals are the worst at this.

I should add that my wife thinks this is just selection bias because the conservatives I know are smart and the liberals I know are stupid, but she’s a liberal so kind of a self-own.

I will add that the vast majority of smart Christians I know could not pretend to be Muslim while the smart Muslims can easily pretend to be Christian. (This is likely because minorities have to learn the majority but not vice-versa. In Muslim countries it may be the opposite.)